Lawrence Police need more money
Lawrence - The annual operating budget for the Lawrence Police Department is $14.2 Million, but Chief Tarik Khatib says his department needs more resources. "We're going to need a significant amount of officers to be able to continue what we're doing and also try to impact our crime rates which is higher than a lot of our comparison cities," said Khatib.
In 2010 Lawrence Police officers handled more than 115,000 calls for service. Khatib says he would like to add 30 more people to his department. He also wants to replace outdated and damaged equipment, and buy several armored emergency response vehicles. But his big ticket item is a new police facility.
Khatib knows he won't get everything he's asked for, but he does have the support of city officials, who will begin the 2012 budget process next week.